Because it's Better in Suna
by TaintedMoonlight
Summary: Nara Shikamaru doesn't really like Christmas. He thinks it's one of the more troublesome holidays there is. Temari is determined to change his mind. So Shikamaru is spending Christmas with Temari and her brothers... IS it better in Suna?
1. December 23

**_Because it's Better in Suna_**

**Ch.1:** _December 23_

* * *

Yoshino glared at her son. "You're what?"

Shikamaru shifted nervously. "…Leaving…"

Her lips pressed together tightly, leaving only a thin line visible. "You are spending Christmas with _strangers_?!"

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head, "Temari and her brothers aren't—"

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SPEND CHRISTMAS WITH FAMILY!!"

Shikamaru tried backing away from his furious mother. "Well, I…"

"I _knew_ that vile brute of a woman would—"

"Yoshino, maybe you should…" Shikaku began but halted as the woman turned her venomous gaze onto her husband. "Ano…"

"Mom—" Shikamaru began.

"_Don't_ you 'mom' me! I raised you, fed you, cared for you, and you can't as much—"

"It's just Christmas, mom, I—"

"DON'T TALK BACK TO ME, BOY."

Shikamaru grimaced. He should've snuck out the window. Better yet, he shouldn't be going to Suna at all.

He just couldn't say 'no' to Temari. Scratch that, he could say 'no'. Very well, in fact; she just wouldn't _let_ him say 'no'.

_She had been sitting before the shogi board, her nice pink tongue licking a candy cane she'd nicked from his mother's precious Christmas tree. The blonde loved peppermint candies. Her left hand was propping up her head, elbow on the table. It was __**supposed**__ to be her move, but she was too busy scrutinizing him with her sharp eyes. "How can you not like Christmas?"_

_Shikamaru was leaning back, his palms on the floor supporting him; he was starting up at the roof, but his eyes kept drifting down to the blonde involuntarily. "It's troublesome."_

_She scowled. "Is not. Christmas is fun and-and cool and-and NOT troublesome."_

_He looked at her flustered figure calmly and raised an eyebrow. He __**knew**__ that irritated her._

"_It is!" she protested._

"_Maybe for you."_

_She scowled._

"_Your move, Temari." He yawned._

"_Spend Christmas in Suna." She demanded as she carelessly moved a piece across the board._

"_What?" He asked momentarily losing his composure, his hands slipping so he almost fell back. He straightened up and stared at her. She __**had**__ to be insane._

"_I guarantee you'll like Christmas if you spend it with me and my brothers."_

"_No fucking way, Temari." He moved his piece; not even thinking about what he was doing, not even noting where he placed it._

_His desert blonde scowled prettily. The fingers propping up her head tapped against in her cheek in thought. But she didn't seem to be thinking of the game, but of their current conversation. "I'll make you a deal." Her free hand roamed over the board, deciding on a move. "If I beat you, you'll spend Christmas with me."_

"_No, Temari." He said firmly._

_She smirked. "What? Afraid you'll lose? You? The genius?"_

_He never lost against her. Okay, hardly ever. Her cocky attitude really irked him sometimes. "Fine. If you beat me, I'll spend Christmas in Suna."_

_She grinned widely; that gorgeous, self-righteous, pleased grin that he'd come to know signified victory for her. Not a bad sight when you were on her team; still not a bad sight when you weren't on her team, but if you __**weren't**__ on her team and you saw it, you know you'd lost – and terribly. Her fingers closed around a piece and moved it forward. "Checkmate."_

_Shikamaru wanted to hang himself. He really should avoid making any sort of bet with Temari. When he usually did such a thing he was too distracted with looking at her to realize it was a bad option._

_Damn woman._

"Shikamaru!"

He blinked, as his mother snapped her fingers in his face.

"You weren't even listening were you!?" Her hand drew up to her face and she sighed in irritation. "What am I to do with you? You know what? Get out, leave to Suna; let that insufferable woman deal with you. At least this Christmas I won't have to deal with _two_ lazy good-for-nothings." Shikamaru chose not to reply. "Go on, get! One Christmas with that woman and you'll probably avoid her for the rest of your life. Hah!"

The funny thing was, Shikamaru was actually afraid his mother might be right. He didn't like Christmas. Nothing would change that, and Temari trying might make him HATE it.

**xXx**

Shikamaru leant against the wall waiting for someone inside to open the door. He could hear yelling and crashing and all around unbelievable ruckus going on inside.

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" That one was definitely Temari.

"YOU OPEN THE DOOR, HAG!" Kankurou, probably.

Then a loud, shattering crash.

Shikamaru yawned.

"Dammit, Temari! You broke the tree." That one was Gaara.

Then laughter. Kankurou, Shikamaru presumed.

Lots of swearing.

Finally the door opened. Gaara stood at the door looking back into the house. He looked at him a frown on his face, "The tree broke."

"IT DID NOT BREAK, GAARA, IT JUST FELL!

"_FELL_? YOU TOPPLED IT DOWN!" Kankurou laughed.

"It broke." Gaara affirmed for him. "This is the first time it's broken."

Somehow Shikamaru had trouble believing that.

Shikamaru walked in, a little uncertain of what he'd find.

Both Temari and Kankurou were covered in shiny silver tinsel. It was actually a funny sight.

Temari sat cross-legged on the floor a slight scowl on her lips as Kankurou used his chakra string to raise the tree back up. The aluminum spheres on the tree were cracked and so were some of the lights. The branches were sort-of bent. It was interesting looking tree.

It looked _nothing_ like his mother's. His mom usually set up a tree that _matched_. Silver and red spheres, white and red lights, silver tinsel, white star, peppermint candy canes, a few red paper flowers… _This_ tree looked like the rainbow had exploded on it. The lights were every color he could think of: blue, red, green, yellow, white, purple, even orange. The metallic spheres on top of being every color of the rainbow, where doodled on. Some of the designs of the spheres looked like a three year-old had designed them and some looked rather professional, and some were blank. The candy canes varied in color and flavor, and oddly enough there seemed to be _cookies_ hanging from the tree. Cookies with faces on them. Shikamaru could swear one of those cookies looked uncannily like him.

Kankurou looked the tree up and down. "It looks like we tried to kill it."

"I told you the tree was broken." Gaara said impassively.

"It is NOT." Temari.

Kankurou stretched. "Nara, would you say the tree is broken?"

Temari turned to glare at him.

Shikamaru blinked. "Well, it still stands…"

Temari stuck out her tongue at her youngest brother. "Hah!"

Gaara shrugged and collapsed backward on the couch. His legs resting against the back of the chair and head dropping over the seat. "Is wrapping a person allowed, Temari?"

Temari quirked up an eyebrow. "…Why?"

"It would be fun."

Kankurou grinned. "You can wrap Shikamaru up for Temari. I'm sure our big sister would enjoy that."

Shikamaru shifted nervously. He wasn't sure if they actually would try to wrap him.

Temari sighed. "People wrapping is not allowed."

It was then that Shikamaru realized there were a large amount of boxes and decorations strewn about the floor. Decorations that did not entirely seem to belong to the beat-up tree. "Are you barely decorating everything?"

"Temari's insane idea." Kankurou explained. "She's decided we should decorate EVERYTHING on the twenty-third and not a day earlier."

"Why?" he asked.

Kankurou shrugged. "We're stupid like that?"

"It's more fun that way." Temari protested.

"I wanna do the roof!" Gaara said.

"Oh yeah." Temari brightened. "We're not finished." She stood up. "Okay, Gaara you can do the roof. Kankurou you do the front yard. I'll finish inside. And Shikamaru you can help Kankurou with the yard."

He shifted. "Okay…"

What did he get himself into?

**xXx**

The other houses in sand village were sparsely decorated. Those that _were_ decorated were done in that 'elegant' manner his mother was so infinitely fond of. He remembered hating decorating when he was younger (in fact he still hated decorating now) because his mother insisted he place every light in the perfect area. Every decoration matching its surroundings, every little thing in the absolute best place possible. It drove him mad.

The manner in which Gaara and Kankurou seemed to be decorating was just as sporadic and…insane as they decorated the tree. The lights Gaara was stringing on the roof had no particular pattern. They weren't being placed neatly around the edges or in a horizontal pattern, they were just…weird. They kinda of zigged that way, and zagged back and hang so low from the roof in some places that it touched the floor, in others it didn't get near the edge at all.

"What're you standing there for?" Kankurou complained. He tossed him a box. "Here, put these up."

Shikamaru looked into the box. "There were some lights, plastic candy canes, what looked like an inflatable Santa Claus, and little plastic reindeer. "Where do I put them?"

Kankurou shrugged as he draped some shiny garland on the fence. "Wherever the hell you want. No one really cares."

Looking at the miniature plastic elves that were hanging from an alcove in the house by their legs, Shikamaru was quite sure they decorated in a manner his mother would be despised by. He was almost sure some of the neighbors were also appalled at their source of decoration. Shikamaru pulled out the strand of lights.

Well…what to do with 'em…?

He connected the wires to the outlet and started draping them nonsensically across the sand floor. He got bored and decided to spell out his name. Then he spelled Temari's. Then Gaara's. Then Kankurou's. And then he ran out of lights. He ruffled through the box and pulled out the plastic candy canes. He dug them into the ground in random shapes. Circles. Squares. Triangles. Each with two mini reindeers in the middle.

This was actually kind of…_fun_.

As he noticed his box was empty he looked around to see what everything looked like.

Yup, this was definitely the craziest decorating he'd EVER seen.

Gaara was now sitting on the floor moving the sand about so it shaped the form of…a _snowman_?

Kankurou was giving the sculpture things Gaara was building faces with rocks he picked up from the floor.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Sandmen." Gaara stated happily.

"…Sand…men?"

Kankurou placed a small stone for a nose on one of the sandmen. "It doesn't snow here, so we make sandmen instead of snowmen."

Shikamaru shrugged and helped them give the sandmen faces.

**xXx**

Temari stood hands on her hips as she analyzed the sandmen. "What exactly are they doing?"

Gaara pointed at the two on the left. "Those are dying." He pointed to the third to the left which had a twig in its hand. "That one killed them."

Temari's lips twitched. She seemed to be trying not to smile. "That's a very…festive message we're giving out."

"It's very festive." Gaara nodded. "It's a message to that freak in the red suit. He better not steal my presents."

Shikamaru choked on his laughter. "Isn't 'the freak in the red suit' supposed to _bring_ you presents?"

"He never gave _me_ presents. Kankurou said he stole mine."

"Yeah…stolen…"

Shikamaru laughed.

Temari smiled, "That's why Gaara keeps watch all night on Christmas Eve."

**xXx**

Temari handed him a metal sphere and some markers.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Decorate it."

"…Decorate it?"

Gaara was sitting on the floor poking the presents under the tree with his sand and Kankurou was sitting next to him a candy cane in his mouth 'predicting' what each present had inside.

Kankurou pulled a blue candy cane from the tree and threw it at his head. "Yeah, decorate it. Like we decorated some of these."

"Why?"

Gaara shook a present. "Because it's fun. You should be glad there's any left, usually Kankurou breaks them all."

"Not ALL of them." The puppeteer protested.

Temari looked at him expectantly.

He shrugged and started doodling on the sphere.

After a few minutes, he handed it back to Temari.

Her body shook and then a giggle split from her lips.

Gaara turned to stare at his sister.

Kankurou dropped his candy cane. "Did you just _giggle_, Temari?"

"It's cute."

Gaara blinked. "Did you say 'cute'?"

"Oh, both of you shut up." She handed Gaara the sphere, "Look."

Gaara smiled slightly.

Kankurou stared at Shikamaru quizzically.

Shikamaru shrugged. "It's me, flattened by one of Santa Claus's murderous presents."

He doodled three others. One with a passed out Santa Claus twisted at the bottom of the fireplace. One with a toppled Christmas tree and Temari and Kankurou fighting on top of it. And one with him holding Temari's hand.

He blushed when Temari looked at it. And focused on staring at the floor when Gaara and Kankurou looked at it.

**xXx**

Gaara and Kankurou were now adding more candy canes to the tree as the candy canes it had held previously seemed to have disappeared. Temari was sitting at the foot of the tree wrapping.

Shikamaru stared at her as she opened the cupboard to the left of the tree and pulled out a box of macaroni. She started wrapping it.

"Ano…Temari, why are you wrapping…that?"

"So the tree can look nicer."

"So you…wrap macaroni boxes?"

"I wrap fake presents."

It looks cool. And wrapping is fun." She smirked at him as he raised an eyebrow at her statement. "What? You don't like wrapping either?"

"Frankly, no."

Gaara placed the last candy cane he had on the tree. "Are we wrapping weird stuff now?" He looked happy.

"Yup."

Gaara picked up one of the roles of wrapping paper and ambled off. Kankurou did the same.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"See? They think its fun."

"HOW, is it _fun_?"

"Because you can wrap stupid stuff and give pretend gifts."

"So…who is the macaroni for?"

She placed a bow on the box. "My sensei Baki."

He frowned. "So…you all wrap a bunch of fake gifts and give them to each other?"

"They all mean something."

"What does the macaroni mean?"

She placed the tag on the box and wrote down the 'to' and 'from' names. "He's like food to me. He's helped keep me from being weak, you know, training-wise. He's the one who's instilled the 'don't quit' mentality in me."

Shikamaru smiled in spite of himself.

She grinned. "You wanna do it now, don't you?"

He couldn't believe it, but he actually did. "Hand me that wrapping paper."

Even her green eyes were grinning. "Feel free to use anything you find lying around the house. It's not the object that matters or whose it is, but the meaning." She explained happily.

Okay, so her concept of Christmas was … rather odd and made no sense whatsoever, but it was certainly more fun that he'd ever had around Christmas in Konoha.

He was almost a little afraid and…anxious to see what would happen on Christmas Eve.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah...I was...in a rather odd mood and I wrote this. I'm not even sure if I'll keep it up once I'm done with it... I'll update the next chapter (December 24) tomorrow and the final chapter (December 25) the day after that.

My mom wraps fake presents. They don't mean anything he just wraps them because she thinks it makes the christmas tree look nicer. I think it's cool.

Hope you guys are having a good christmas vacation!


	2. December 24

**_Because it's Better in Suna_**

**Ch.2:** _December 24_

* * *

Shikamaru ambled into the kitchen around noon, after waking up to figure out what was with the ruckus. 

An annoying clatter of pans and even more annoying smell of food had woken him up. It was getting him hungry.

Okay, preferable to the alternative, which was his mother waking him up at three in the damn morning to help her cook for Christmas Eve dinner. Pfft. Shikamaru would be perfectly happy eating leftovers.

Upon entering the area from which the source of noise came from, he found Temari stirring a pot and attempting to grab a bowl on the other side of the kitchen without ceasing the stirring.

"Dammit!" Temari swore as she fell back and tripped over an empty pan on the floor. Luckily neither the pan she was stirring or the bowl she was reaching for had fallen with her. Sitting there scowling on the floor, Shikamaru thought she looked rather pretty. With flour on her face, her blonde pigtails all mussed up, and a white frilly apron on her, she looked completely adorable. She looked up and scowled at him. "You find this funny, Shikamaru?"

"Somewhat, yes."

The blonde picked herself up grumbling about stupid men.

"You know, it might work better if someone were helping you." He looked at her pointedly. "Gaara and Kankurou abandon you? This not as fun as the other stuff?"

She stuck out her tongue at him. "No. They think this is fun too. They just went out to get sugar."

He quirked up an eyebrow. "They BOTH went out to get sugar?"

A slight shudder graced her shoulders. "You don't set Gaara out shopping alone, let alone for sweet items. And Kankurou, the big baby, didn't want to go, so I sent them both." She dropped the contents in the bowl into the pan, and continued stirring. "Neither of them can cook worth a damn."

He smirked, "And you can?"

Temari scowled and kicked the empty pan at him.

It narrowly missed his head.

He grinned.

"Quit being an idiot and help me." She waved the spatula at him. "Do you know how to baste a ham?"

"Somewhat."

"I take it your _somewhat_ is equivalent to a 'yes, Temari, tell me where everything is'."

"Troublesome."

"Oh, fine; if you don't—"

He rolled his eyes, "I didn't say anything other than troublesome, woman. Where's the ham?" Temari motioned to the fridge.

Yawning, Shikamaru got to work quickly, only paying a fraction of his attention to the food he was working on. He was more interested in watching Temari.

"Idiot, pay attention to the food, or you'll poison somebody."

"Woman, pay attention to the food before you burn it. Seeing how accident prone you are when you ARE paying attention."

She scowled. "You know, you really irritate me."

"Then why'd you bother inviting – scratch that _ordering_ me over for Christmas?"

"Because you're ill and need to be cured."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Ill. _Right_."

Temari threw the nearest object to her at him.

He didn't dodge this one, and a bag of flour hit him in the chest. "Damn, woman, you're supposed to make me _like_ Christmas, not inure me severely."

"Oh, shut up." She paused then turned off the stove. Turning around she waved the spatula figuratively in his direction. "What dessert do you like eating?"

"What dessert do I what?"

"During Christmas, what dessert do you like to eat more?"

"It doesn't matt—"

"Oy, idiot, if I asked you then it matters."

"Chphrecerke."

She raised an eyebrow. "Say what?"

He sighed. "I like cheesecake, okay?"

She grinned at him. "What? Is that embarrassing for you to admit?" She paused. "Doesn't Yoshino have something against—"

"Ino's cheesecake." He cut her off. Yes, his mom was adamantly against making that cake. She was allergic or it was bad for your health or something. He never really paid attention to the explanation she gave.

"Ino can cook?" He noticed her voice was a little tighter than it was five seconds ago.

"Not even. Her mother cooks everything." He shrugged, "Ino called it a fattening dessert so she gave it to me and Chouji before her mother or father could notice she'd taken it from the house."

"Nice." Temari chuckled. "Better you than her apparently."

Shikamaru rubbed at his cheek. He was still so very sleepy.

Temari smiled. "Oy, baka, you got that stuff on your cheek."

Shikamaru wiped at his face, but got the feeling he was only making a bigger mess.

Temari rolled her eyes and walked to him. "Right," her finger rubbed at his cheek, "here."

Her fingers rested on her cheek, a dumbfounded and petrified look upon her face. She looked really pretty he thought, for the second time that morning. Hair a mess, powdered flour on her nose, that unbelievable naïve look on her face. He sort of just moved forward and touched her pretty pink lips to his.

Temari moaned slightly in protest. "We need to…food…"

"It can wait." He mumbled into her mouth as he somehow managed to push her against the counter.

She tasted like peppermint. No surprise there; as he passed the tree in coming to the kitchen he'd noticed the complete and total lack of peppermint candy canes on the tree. In fact he noticed the lack of all candy canes, _period_.

Temari, Kankurou, and Gaara sure liked their candy canes.

_Shit_. Kankurou and Gaara would be coming back s—

"Ahem." Gaara said calmly, almost at the same time that a heavy bag hit the back of his head.

Before him, Temari scowled, her cheeks flushed. "Kankurou, don't throw the sugar around!"

"Isn't it better to say don't throw the sugar at poor Shikamaru's head. You might give him a concussion?" Shikamaru grumbled.

"WELL," Kankurou emphasized, "I wouldn't HAVE to throw the sugar at ANYBODY'S head, if the kinky shadow idiot could keep his hands off you."

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched. _Kinky_?

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Come on, I'll cook up the gingerbread – I mean…_people cookies_ and meanwhile you two can help Shikamaru with the ham."

"He knows how to cook?" Gaara asked.

Temari scoffed. "I hope so."

**xXx**

Shikamaru was sitting on the table his head resting in his hands watching as the three siblings decorated the 'people cookies'. "Are these the same type of cookies you have hanging on the tree?"

Temari shook her head then stopped. "Well…"

"Technically," Kankurou clarified, "they're the same _type_ of cookies, but Gaara baked them…and well…they proved to be inedible."

He raised an eyebrow. "So you made them decorations instead?"

Temari smiled. "It's a cool decoration. Totally original. I've never seen a cookie decoration on anybody else's tree before."

Gaara didn't seem to be affected by the conversation at all, not even pausing in his decoration; but the red-head asked him a question, a slight…apprehension in his voice. "You don't like the cookie decorations?"

Temari looked up at him, a threat daring to rise in her eyes, but Shikamaru didn't even notice it. Kankurou, unbeknownst to Shikamaru had the same expression on his face. "They're weird, but in an interesting way." The edge of his lips curled upward involuntarily. "I like all the decorations, as weird as they are; they're…fun." He picked up the cookie Gaara pushed aside and looked it over. It had swirls for eyes, appeared to be drooling, and its shirt looked dirty and ragged. "What is it?"

"Drunk." Shikamaru could almost swear Gaara was smiling. He knew Temari was grinning widely and brilliantly, and Kankurou was looking at him in…acceptance, also smiling. Shikamaru wasn't sure why. He must've said something.

"Drunk?"

"You can't have cookie people without a drunk cookie."

He picked up another one. "Or apparently a love-struck one." He muttered. This one had hearts for eyes and was drooling. Oh, and a button on its chest…

Kankurou smirked. "That's you."

A button with a picture of Temari. "Gaara's inventive." Kankurou continued; mirth at the edge of his lips. The puppeteer pushed forward another cookie in his direction. This one had the same expression the 'Shikamaru' cookie had. "He made another one that looks just like that except female and with a Shikamaru button."

Temari scowled.

Shikamaru smiled.

Oh yeah, they were very inventive when it came to decorating things…

**xXx**

Eating was a … peculiar experience.

At home, everyone gathered around and ate politely and talked about civil affairs, and it was oh-so boring. Shikamaru had trouble just staying awake, though his mother hitting him sure managed to keep him from sleeping in his plate of food.

There was no way he could even manage to _feel_ like sleeping here. For starters they passed food around the table by _sliding_ it across. He really didn't want to miss the plate and let it crash to the floor. Not that he would be the first. Already three plates lay broken on the floor, and they all declared it should be left there. They'd clean up when they were done, or so they said. Every now and then someone would throw a piece of food at someone's head for some _mockery_ they said; and surprisingly enough, Shikamaru actually managed to find the conversation interesting.

Kankurou grinned evilly. "So, Nara, you do _it_ with my sister yet?"

Temari scowled and kicked him. Or…tried to. Gaara was the one who winced and rubbed his shin.

Shikamaru smirked. "What? So interested in Temari's life, 'cause you get any?"

Kankurou choked on his food.

Temari's jaw dropped and she aimed a kick at his legs. He shifted to the side before her foot could contact with skin, but he still heard a loud 'thud'.

Gaara inhaled sharply. "Dammit, Temari, either hit your target or stop kicking."

Temari swatted Shikamaru upside the head and grumbled an apology at Gaara.

"What did I do, woman?" he asked with a smile.

"Fucking idiot." Temari grumbled. "Barely one day with my brothers and you're already starting to sound just like them."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Kankurou grinned.

Temari threw her cup at him. Kankurou inclined his head to the side and it went forward smacking into the wall with a loud crash.

"See, Temari," Kankurou grumbled through a mouthful of food, "this is why we constantly have to replace our dinnerware."

"You being a moron is why we have to replace things. Fuck, you burned the entire kitchen last month."

"That," he clarified, "was Gaara's fault."

"Was not." Gaara protested. "You told me it was okay to heat up the burrito in the microwave."

"It was covered in foil, Gaara, of course it's not okay to put in the microwave." Temari sighed.

Shikamaru choked on his drink. "You put FOIL in the microwave?"

"Kankurou said it was okay."

Shikamaru glanced at the puppeteer.

Kankurou sighed in irritation. "I thought it would be fun to see what happened."

"You set the kitchen on _fire_!" Temari snapped. "AND, instead of putting it out, or calling for help, you decide to watch and see what could happen!"

"You…"

Kankurou shrugged, "It was kinda burning the pantry and we wanted to see what would happen when the fire touched the popcorn."

Shikamaru wasn't known for laughing.

Shikamaru wasn't known for a lot of things.

But this was too good not to laugh.

**xXx**

Shikamaru took some popcorn from the bowl and stared at the screen. Gaara was sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the couch. Kankurou was lying on the floor on his back propped up by a rather large collection of pillows. Shikamaru sat on the couch. And Temari was stretched across the couch her head resting on his lap. There were two popcorn bowls. One that Gaara held in his hands and one resting on Temari's stomach. The lights were off, only the twinkling rainbow barrage from the tree and the TV illuminating the room.

"Remind me again why we're watching a horror movie." Shikamaru muttered to no one in particular.

"Because. We always do." Gaara muttered.

"And why would that be?"

"Because," Kankurou mumbled through a mouthful of popcorn, "AFdhoruhu."

"Dammit, Kankurou," Shikamaru could feel the vibrations from her body on his lap as she spoke. "Swallow, then speak."

"BECAUSE," Kankurou clarified, "watching a holiday movie about some freaky talking reindeer, fat old man in red, or even freakier talking, walking, magical snowman, is a far creepier and asinine thing to do. Why would we watch something that somebody probably concocted under the influence of drugs when we can watch something sensible like–_that was fucking COOL_!"

Some idiot just got decapitated. "Like people being slaughtered?"

"Exactly."

"Ten bucks that girl with the strawberry blonde hair dies next." Gaara said.

"Nah," Kankurou mumbled, "the dude with the dreds is next."

"The little kid." Temari chimed in.

Gaara tossed a popcorn kernel at Shikamaru. "What's your hypothesis?"

"You're all wrong. The homeless man."

A few minutes later, the chopped up body of the girl with red-blond hair hit the floor with a sickening splat.

"Damn." Kankuro muttered.

"Ah, not cool." Temari murmured.

"Troublesome."

"I expect my thirty bucks tomorrow." Gaara said smugly.

Temari sniggered and looked up at Shikamaru. "Bad?"

He smiled. "Nah, this is…actually…fun."

Temari grinned widely. "Just wait 'till tomorrow."

This sure beat watching the story of a reindeer that, frankly, probably _was_ made up by a person on drugs. Really, who came up with a reindeer with a red nose that glowed? Who came up with flying reindeer period? Who came up with Santa Claus?

Yup, Kankurou had a point; the horror movie was much more realistic. _And_ interesting.

* * *

**A/N:** The more I write, the weirder I think I get... 


	3. December 25

**_Because it's Better in Suna_**

**Ch.3:** _December 25_

* * *

Shikamaru felt the breath in his body leave abruptly as a heavy weight dropped on his chest. 

He was probably dying…

Flicking open his eyes he was greeted with Temari's smile.

Or dreaming…

Or both, maybe…

"Are you awake, now?"

"Temari, what are you doing?"

She sighed. "I'm bored."

"You…_You're bored_?"

She nodded. "I'm not allowed to open presents until everyone's awake, and nobody's awake. I'm bored. Entertain me."

Shikamaru was struggling to comprehend what was wrong with her. "It's…It can't be earlier than three in the morning. Go back to sleep."

She blinked. "That's boring." Her hair was free from her usual ponytails and she was wearing a cotton tank top and pants.

"That's essential."

"Still boring. Are you going to wake up, or are you just going to lay there?"

"I…am awake."

"You're still in bed, that counts as very much asleep to _me_."

"Temari, it's EARLY, go back to sleep."

Temari sighed. "See? This is why you have no fun on Christmas."

"Everyone is asleep. Even Gaara. Doesn't that tell you something?"

"Yup; Christmas used to be more fun when he couldn't sleep."

Shikamaru blinked. "I'm going back to sleep now."

"You're absolutely no fun in the morning."

"I wouldn't call this morning."

She slid off him. "Fine. Fine. Go back to your precious sleep. I'm going to see if Gaara is awake now."

Shikamaru stared after her, wondering what in the world happened to her sanity. He knew she was a morning person, but this was ridiculous. They'd only been asleep for about four hours.

**xXx**

CRASH!

Shikamaru jumped, falling from the bed hitting the floor with a hard thwack. He groaned. Dammit. Sitting up he rubbed his head. Upon pulling his hand back he noticed black ink all over his hands.

He blinked.

What the…?

Shikamaru walked over to the mirror and couldn't help raising an eyebrow. Someone had written all over his face.

The words 'Temari's' and 'deer-boy' were scribbled on his forehead. There was also a large collection of stars and smiley faces (and some frowny ones) doodled on him. Then he looked at his arms, those were covered in marker drawings as well. Shikamaru's mouth twitched up. She really _was_ bored.

CRASH!

Then some giggles.

Shikamaru walked over to the source of the sound.

"Hah! I win. I can juggle five without dropping any for at least five seconds." Temari gloated.

Gaara glowed. "I'm trying again."

Temari was sitting cross-legged by the tree and Gaara was standing in front of her, juggling…something.

Whatever it was, was really shiny.

"Okay, ready for the fifth one, little brother?"

"Just toss it."

Temari reached behind her and pulled one of the metallic spheres from the tree. "Here goes." Then she tossed it into the objects Gaara was juggling."

CRASH!

Gaara scowled as three of the spheres hit the floor.

Temari smirked. "See? I am the queen of juggling."

This really shouldn't surprise him anymore, but it still left him a bit shocked. "…Well, the way you're throwing them, of course he keeps dropping them."

Temari turned. "Oh, hey. You're finally awake." She paused. "And I'm NOT cheating."

"Not on purpose maybe."

"That's it. Shikamaru throws 'em to me now."

"I wasn't cheating!" She protested. "Besides, you've already tried TWO times."

"So you want me to quit, Temari? Great lesson, there."

"Oh, fine. You still won't be able to juggle more than four."

Shikamaru sat down beside her and tossed spheres to Gaara one by one. He reached for the fifth sphere and tossed it in.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

"Hah!" Gaara said triumphantly. "I didn't drop 'em."

Temari scowled. "Do six then."

Shikamaru had to suppress his smile. Temari really disliked losing. He tossed in the sixth one and waited for the crash.

It didn't come.

He tossed in a seventh.

CRASH!

Gaara sat down happily, using his sand to pick up the shards from the floor. "I win."

"I demand a re-try. You did it THREE times. I only did it once."

"Sore loser." Gaara smirked.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"You had three tries!"

Shikamaru laughed.

"What's so funny?" she demanded. "He did get three tries."

"Nothing." He smiled. "Nothing's funny at all." Except he liked being with them; because they were utterly ridiculous in the funniest way. They had fun.

They were both looking at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Your turn." Gaara said to him.

He blinked. "No it's not."

Temari shoved him up. "Yes it is, now shut up and juggle."

"I don't—" _juggle_, he started to protest but Temari threw a sphere at him.

And then another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

"He's got you tied, Gaara." Temari picked out another sphere.

Shikamaru was having trouble not dropping any of them. This had to be the most ridiculous thing he'd ever done. So why couldn't he stop smiling?

Gaara took the sphere from Temari's hand. "I'll throw this one."

Shikamaru faltered as the seventh sphere fell among the others, but he didn't drop it.

Then a new sphere hit him square and then head and – CRASH.

They all fell.

Temari was grinning. "Whoops. Slipped."

He smirked. "I'm sure it slipped." Sliding over beside her, he poked her in the side.

She snickered. "Don't do that!"

Then he was tickling her and she was laughing insanely.

"Stop!" she breathed through her laughter. "I swear, Nara, if you don't stop, I—" Laughter. "I'll k-kill you."

"Try."

He felt a pillow smack him across the head. Temari was now chasing him around the room with a pillow. He picked one up from the floor and started smacking at her with it. He also managed to accidentally-on-purpose smack Gaara with the pillow as well, and soon enough they were all running around the room waving the pillows around.

Then…

_**CRASH**_!

They all froze.

Gaara blinked. "Wow."

Temari dropped her pillow. "Hunh."

Shikamaru was speechless. One of him (Shikamaru had the sinking suspicion it was him) had hit the tree with the pillow and it…sort of toppled over. The lights blinked sporadically then stopped altogether. The Temari cookie dangled freely in the air, and a Naruto-looking cookie fell to the floor.

"I didn't think you could break a tree twice." Gaara mentioned off-handedly.

"'The _hell_ did you all do?" A new voice muttered.

Kankurou.

Temari pointed her finger at Shikamaru. "He did it."

Shikamaru just stared blankly. "…Sorry?"

To the left of him, Gaara frowned. "You don't apologize. What's wrong with you?"

Shikamaru stared at Gaara in confusion. "I…_what_?"

"He's new at this." Temari shrugged. "You're supposed to blame it on somebody else."

"…_Gaara _did it?" he said uncertainly.

"I was an innocent bystander." Gaara said clearly.

"Which is why you too have a pillow in your hand?" Kankurou asked with a smirk.

"Protection." He defended

**xXx**

He looked up at the green cloth antlers on his head. "Why am I wearing antlers?"

"Because," Temari explained, "Gaara's wearing the Santa-hat and I'm wearing the elf-hat."

"Kankurou isn't wearing anything."

The puppeteer smirked, "Well, I've given up my hat rights, as those antlers go quite well with the writing on your forehead."

"These are _rein_deer antlers. My head says deer-boy."

"Too bad. So sad." Temari smiled. "You wear the antlers. No changing it."

**xXx**

Temari shoved a wrapped box in his hands.

"…What's this?" He'd already opened the present she'd given him.

She grinned. "You're fake present."

He tore open the paper, a little afraid of what would be inside the box. Opening it up he pulls out the object.

Glasses.

Plastic glasses with no actual lens.

He looked at her.

She shrugged, a tiny miniscule blush on her cheeks. "You see me."

He smiled then leant forward touching her lips to his. She was absolutely gorgeous. "You're amazing. How could I not see you?" He winced as a box hit his head. Pulling away he looked at Kankurou.

"What? I don't want to see _that_." He said. "Go french my sister away from _me_." He pointed at the box that had just collided with his head. Seriously, upon leaving Suna, Shikamaru might just have a concussion. "That one's from me."

Shikamaru picked it up.

Well, it was certainly bigger than Temari's. Heavier too.

He opened it up.

"An apple?"

Kankurou shrugged. "I like apples. They're not so bad. Plus, they're not like…killer foods or anything. They're good for you. Healthy and all that rot."

Shikamaru smiled. "Thanks."

Gaara sand dropped a small one in front of him.

He opened it.

A strawberry jelly candy. He like those. They sold them a lot in Konoha.

"It's…" Gaara paused. "They don't sell those in Suna. But…I like 'em…To me…they…belong."

Shikamaru blinked. "Th-Thanks."

There was something very different and nice about these particular presents. Normal presents were very cool to open, but…the joy kind of…wore off, and they really didn't mean much. But…this…this was very cool.

Shikamaru reached behind the tree and pulled out three oddly (and badly as he thought) wrapped packages. "I haven't done this before, but…I think…" He shrugged and gave each one their own.

Temari tore it open happily. Her nails dug into the wrapping paper and pulled it apart quickly and anxiously.

Gaara pulled it open very slowly and calmly. Shikamaru still found his way of opening the oddest. Like he was…trying to savor every bit.

Kankurou tore it open hastily.

"A candy cane!" Temari said excited and started eating it. "I thought we'd finished them all."

"I took one before they all disappeared."

She looked at him expectantly. "Because…I never really cared for peppermint before, but now…I" He fidgeted, feeling what he was about to say was stupid, "…ano…love it."

She blinked. Then grinned. Then tackled him to the floor in a large hug.

"Temari," Gaara said, (Shikamaru could swear he could hear mirth in his voice), "I think you might be disallowing air to enter his lungs. You might kill him and all."

Temari sat up blushing, candy cane still in her mouth.

Kankurou held up his, "What's a band-aid supposed to mean?"

"Despite how you act, you really…care and give of yourself to protect the ones you love. It's…cool."

Gaara was staring quizzically at the object he pulled out of his. "…Ruler?"

Shikamaru fidgeted. The stupid feeling coming back. "You don't need to measure up to anyone's standards. You're already great."

Temari grinned.

Kankurou rolled his eyes, but was smiling.

Gaara's lips curved upward.

"See? Told you fake presents were fun."

Shikamaru smirked. "Yes, and you're always right, Temari."

**xXx**

They were standing outside at eleven at night, with four rather large fireworks in their pajamas. And he in his reindeer antlers. And Gaara in his Santa-hat. (Apparently another tradition in their household, was to stay in pajamas from morning to midnight.)

He had been wrong; THIS was the stupidest thing he'd ever done.

"Temari is going to kill me." Shikamaru muttered as he watched Gaara and Kankurou light a particularly large firework.

"Ah, quit complaining and light this one." Kankurou shoved a firework in his hand. "It was your idea anyway."

"It was a joke! I didn't think you all would seriously listen to me!"

"Well," Gaara said to him, "I guess you've learned your lesson now."

Shikamaru set up the firework. "I can't believe I'm lighting a firework so it'll hit a council member's house!"

"Not hit, just pass really really close by." Gaara clarified.

"Yes, that's much better." He muttered. "Can't I go to prison or something for this? Since I'm from another village…"

"I'm Kazekage. No prison for you." He paused. "Unless you don't help…"

"Blackmail. Brilliant. I'm being blackmailed by the Kazekage into doing things I probably shouldn't."

Kankurou grinned. "Probably, being the key word."

"This is real well in favor of Christmas spirit." He grumbled.

"What's more Christmasy than lighting someone's tree on fire?" Gaara stated as his firework exploded right before the tree creating a nice inferno.

A few more fireworks flew at the house and exploded really close by.

Shikamaru could hear the person inside yelling.

"I am in so much trouble." Shikamaru grumbled.

Kankurou grinned. "Like you aren't having fun."

The problem was, Kankurou was right, he was having way too much fun doing things he shouldn't.

"Aw, damn. Run!" Kankurou hissed. As the old council member Gaara and Kankurou despised so much hobbled out of his house.

**xXx**

They stumbled into the house out of breath and tired.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Shikamaru looked up. Temari was standing before them arms crossed, lips pursed. Oh, boy. He was in trouble.

"His fault!" All three boys said simultaneously.

Gaara was pointing at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru was pointing at Kankurou.

Kankurou was point at…Shikamaru.

"Damn." Shikamaru muttered.

Kankurou shrugged with a grin on his face. "Brother first."

"On the bright side, Temari, he's learning, so you shouldn't punish him to hard." Gaara chipped in.

Temari raised an eyebrow. "Like I honestly believe you had nothing to do with it. They called telling me that Ozki-san's house was set on fire by a trio of hooligans with fireworks."

Kankurou straightened. "SO they didn't see us? AWESOME."

"No. Not awesome. Bad. You could've got in trouble." Temari glared at Shikamaru. "You're supposed to be reasonable."

"Supposed to being the key word." He blinked. Dammit. He really was starting to sound like Kankurou.

Beside him Kankurou grinned.

Temari fumed.

"Oh," Gaara added, "and we didn't set his HOUSE on fire, just his tree."

Kankurou slid past Temari and picked up a box behind the TV.

More fireworks.

"Now, sister dearest," he said cheerily, "we have more fireworks to use."

"NO."

"Aw, would you look at that," Kankurou said, "Gaara snuck out, well I guess I'll go bring him back."

Temari tried to lunge for Kankurou. "Dammit. Don't you dare take those fireworks with you!"

But Kankurou kind of…kicked her and she fell back, falling on top of Shikamaru.

And with that Kankurou was out the door too.

Shikamaru assessed the possibility of him sneaking out too. Not very good. Considering Temari was toppled on him.

The blonde fumed. "That – That –urhg!"

Shikamaru was lying on his back looking up trying to decide the best course of action when he noticed something green hanging up him and Temari.

"AND YOU—"

He silenced her with a kiss.

The words died in her throat.

She pulled back.

"Mistletoe." He said to her.

"That's not—"

"It had to be done; you can't ignore the rules of mistletoe."

She laughed. "Dumbass."

"Probably." Temari picked herself up and Shikamaru followed suit. He looked at her for a few second before taking her hand and pulling her out the door with him.

"Shikamaru!" She protested. "What are you doing?!"

"Like you don't want to set fireworks with them."

"But – that – that doesn't matter! They could set something on fire!"

He stopped and leaned close, whispering in her ear. "It'll be fun. Don't you want to have some fun?"

Temari scowled. "I – You…" She sighed. "Dammit." Throwing her hands up in the air, her lips pressed tight, she was trying oh-so very hard not to grin, she resigned. "Okay, let's go light fireworks. And if we're setting someone else's house on fire, we should set throw fireworks and Amarante-san's home. Fucking bitch steals my missions every chance she gets."

Shikamaru grinned.

"You know, it's really not cool when you turn into the fun one."

He kissed her lightly on the lips. "All your fault. You made me like Christmas."

"So it's not troublesome?"

"Not the least bit."

"Checkmate." With a haughty grin she pulled him forward. "Come on. We don't want them using ALL of the fireworks!"

* * *

**A/N:** By **ande ellis**'s suggestion I've been contemplating doing a New Years type sequel. What would you guys think? 


End file.
